Unintentional Hurt
by Elillierose
Summary: So, my friend (SinikkavonWolperting) Mentioned how in Chapter 10, it looked like Gladio was about to punch Prompto, but quickly shoved him away instead. So this is more of a what-if story. C: Also beta read by: SinikkavonWolperting
1. Heat of the Moment

**This first chapter is relatively short given it's basically a retelling of the game in a way, and just to get things rolling.**

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The silence that had settled around them was almost beyond uncomfortable. Just about anything would have been better, perhaps even a little bit of arguing. Not that they wanted there to be fighting or anything, but the bitter quiet was just too much to bear. Of course, after certain events, the mood was bound to be a bit on the downward side of things; it was understandable, but they didn't expect the tense gloom to carry on for as long as it did. For a while, they only listened to the sounds of the train as it went on, listening to the occasional which and complaint from the wheels grinding along the rails.

After a while of that, the silence became too much, something, or someone had to break it in order for them all to keep their sanity, "So, we're gonna roll by Tenebrae." Prompto said, lacking his usual perky and upbeat tone. He honestly wasn't sure if the others would have appreciated his casual cheerfulness, so he chose not to force it.

"Not before visiting the royal tomb in Cartanica." Ignis spoke up from next to him, keeping his normal authoritative vibe about him, despite their current situation.

Prompto glanced away for a moment, unsure if he should ask or not, but decided to do so anyway, "Uh, you-you're sure you're up to that?" His voice cracked slightly as he still didn't look over to the other.

There was a brief moment where nothing was spoken, then with a sigh, Ignis replied, "The wounds have mended. Eyesight's a matter of time." The words hung in the air, all of them knowing it was wishful thinking. Knowing that the chances of that coming back were very slim. Soon those lingering thoughts were chased away by Gladio's heavy footsteps as they clanked across the floor of the cart.

They both heard them cease as he stopped next to them, "The hell is wrong with you?" He asked, voice void of patience, yet filled with annoyance. He stood there, staring down at Noctis as he sat there, waiting for a response.

"What?" The prince asked, slowly looking up at the towering man. His own irritation could be heard, but buried under that was clear grief.

"We're not stopping in Tenebrae." He replied, eyes still cast down at the other. "You need to grow up and get over it." His words weren't harsh, but they held some demand to them.

Already hearing enough of this, Noctis really wasn't in the mood to hear of his lectures. "I am over it. I'm here, aren't I." His voice was borderline monotone, picking up a bit of volume towards to end as he pushed himself up, standing to face Gladio.

"Maybe when you're not too busy moping, you can look around and give a shit about someone worse off than you." He reached out to grab the front of Noctis' shirt, pulling him a little closer as he spoke. The while, Ignis sat in relative silence, Prompto next to him, fidgeting as the scene was talking place.

"Let go of me." Noctis spoke quietly, eyes fixated on the man hovering above him.

Of course, Gladio didn't respond to that, and instead continued to push his buttons, "How's that ring fit ya? You'd rather carry it around than wear it?" Noctis' face visibly scrunched at that, taking in a sharp intake of breath, "She gave her life so you could do your duty, not so you could sit around feeling sorry for yourself."

"You don't think I know that!?" He replied with no hesitation, his anger only flaring up more easily with the memory of losing Luna still fresh in his mind.

"You don't!" Gladio yelled back, his temper getting the better of him now, but Noctis needed to hear the truth to get it through to him, "Ignis took one for you too, and for what!?"

"Enough, Gladio!" Ignis finally spoke up, tired himself of hearing this tedious and pointless quarrel, it was doing no one any good, and as far as he was concerned, was only making matters worse and more stressful than they already were.

The shield paused only for a moment, brushing the warning off, "You think you're a king, but you're a coward."

Noctis had had enough of this, he was tired of being talked down to all the time. Talked to like he was a child that didn't know what he was doing. Which he knew, he knew he didn't have all the answers, but what gave Gladio the right to go about it the way he did, "Shut up!" He yelled, as he tried to shove the larger man away, anything to widen the gap between them.

Out of instincts, and without thinking, the blond hopped up out of his seat, "Don't do this-!" He tried to break them up. And he wasn't sure if it was the heat of the moment, or if it was reflexes, but he was painfully aware of a solid mass crashing against the left side of his face. At first it didn't feel like much, but his adrenaline was still running high. After the fact, Gladio realized what he did, and immediately felt regret, but that didn't matter now, his anger was still running strong.

"I get it, alright!?" Noctis continued, "I get it!" He shoved Gladio back one last time.

Gladio let him be pushed back this time, forcing himself to back up a little before things got too out of hand. Or more so than it already was. "Then get a grip! Pull your head outta your ass already!" He ignored the various murmurs and looks they were receiving.

With an annoyed breath, Noctis spun around and began storming off, anything to get away from the other man at this point. Honestly not caring where he went, he just started off down the corridor. "Noct!" He heard Prompto call after him. He pushed him off from against the seat to pursue him, but Gladio stopped him.

"Leave him." He still sounded angered, but it wasn't directed at the blond. Prompto stood there for a moment, slowly turning around as he watched Gladio head in the other direction. Unsure of what to do, he carefully made his way back over to Ignis, stepping lightly as if any loud noises would set them off again and sat back down.

He let out a sigh, "You think they'll be alright?" He asked, wincing slightly as the movement from speaking caused his face to sting slightly. Tenderly, he reached up to prod the area, positive there would be a bruise there before too long. Even though it wasn't on purpose it still hurt knowing that Gladio had just punched him. He knew it was an accident, but for some reason, he didn't feel any better about it.

Ignis didn't answer right away, he wasn't too sure himself how the other two would fare given the circumstances, "Perhaps given enough space and time." He finally spoke, vacant gaze fixed off towards the window next to them.

"Yeah." Prompto replied, not knowing what else to say or think about the whole thing. He stood back up to move to the other window, placing his face against the glass and let the coolness of it help ease the throbbing. He almost hated to admit it, but moments like this, he was glad Ignis couldn't see. At least he wouldn't be questioning the very obvious mark on his face now. Sure the others would see it, but for now he could enjoy the peace of no one saying anything about it.

They sat in silence, a silence that was somehow worse than the earlier one they were enduring, and in a way, they kind of missed that one. At least then things weren't quite as tense as they were now. Eventually the whining of the train increased in volume and with a few jerks they realized it was coming to a stop. Looking out, Prompto noticed where they were. Standing up, he offered a hand to Ignis, but quickly pulled it back, remembering, "Uh, want some help...I mean..." He trailed off.

"I can handle this much, thank you." Ignis replied, his stubbornness strong as ever as he pushed himself up and walked past the blond, who in turn made sure to stay close behind just to be safe. As they made their way through the train, Prompto's eye blurred slightly, so he found himself rubbing it trying to clear it. With a quick gasp, he pulled his hand away, seeing as that only made it throb more. Not to mention it did nothing to clear anything.

"Everything alright back there?" Ignis asked, lifting his a head a bit as he asked.

"Hmm?" Prompto asked, cursing himself, "Y-yeah, everything's fine." He brushed off. He felt kind of bad for even thinking about complaining, especially when Ignis was so much far off. He was blind after all, and the only thing he had to complain about was some minor and stupid bruise. He couldn't help but feel a little ashamed ad guilty about it. "The exit is just up ahead." He reminded, not sure if Ignis remembered where it was or not. With his hand, and much to the adviser's chagrin, he helped guide him a small amount until he was safely off the train and standing out in the open.

While Ignis stood there, Prompto took a quick look around, spotting Noctis not too far away. Out of habit, he raised an arm to wave him down with his normal splendor, but catching the expression on his face, he quickly threw that out the window and slowly lowered his limb before the other saw. "Ready, to get goin'?" He asked Ignis instead, gripping his upper arm to try and subtly turn him to walk in the right direction.

"As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose." He nodded his thanks to the other, not oblivious to the small helpful touches and gestures the other was giving him. Reaching him, Ignis faced Noctis, or at least he hoped he was facing him, "Ready to head out?" He asked, sounding as he would any other time.

"Are you sure you're up for it?" Noctis asked, pretty sure that bringing Ignis along was far from a good idea.

"I'll manage somehow." Ignis replied, nodding, "Do not fret over me."

"Alright, if you say so." Noctis reluctantly agreed, eyes scanning passed Ignis and onto Prompto, and he didn't miss the now purplish blemish that lied upon his left cheek bone. "Wha?" He started, then saw Gladio strolling up, and instead grit his teeth and turned to enter the elevator. He still felt sour about what happened earlier.

The blond glanced back as the larger man approached, looking over his left shoulder to try and keep his left side out of view. It was bad enough that it had happened, no need to make the other feel even worse about it. Though, he was still conscious of what he did, he didn't need to see to know that he left a mark. Being heavy handed, and with the heat of the moment, he knew it had to hurt. But like Prompto, he also knew there were more important things to worry about at the time. There would be plenty of opportunities to work it out later.

Prompto and Ignis stepped in next, the former keeping a hand hovering near the other should he stumble. Gladio stepped in last, standing a bit apart from the others, throwing quick glances over every now and then, but never truly facing any of them. With a deep sigh, Noctis pressed the switch to close the gate and take them down. He folded his arms as they descended, waiting for them to hurry up and reach the bottom so that they could get what they needed and move along. The sooner they could get out of this place and move on, the better.


	2. They'll Get Over It

**Thanks again to SinikkavonWolperting for beta reading this for me. C:**

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Time seemed to pass by more slowly than it should have, but even so, they eventually reached the bottom, elevator nerve-wrackingly screeching to a halt as the gate opened its jaws and the four companions eased their way out, each one careful with their first step. Particularly Ignis, whose first step faltered a bit as Gladio reached out a hand to catch onto his upper arm, letting go the moment he had his footing again. He wanted to help him of course, but at the same time wanted the man to retain some sort of his dignity, what was left of it that is.

The mist hit them before anything else, coating the area in a mysterious and eerie atmosphere. One that none of them were too fond of. Ignis may not have been able to see it for himself, but the humidity did not go unnoticed. The air being thick and the awful taste filling their mouths with each intake of breath. "Well, not exactly paradise." Prompto joked with forced jubilance, "But, I've seen worse." He flashed a small and uninspired smile at the others, dropping it immediately and turning when Gladio glanced at his face.

"Let's get this over with." Noctis grumbled, more to himself than anything and moved forward at a more than brisk pace. He stopped when he realized the others weren't following, "Are we going or not?" He asked, turning his head back around to see what was taking so long.

Gladio shot him a look as he took a place next to Ignis, who was slowly making his way over, "Not all of us have the fortune of seeing where we're going." His words held every bit of bitterness within them. Prompto stood somewhere in the middle, glancing back and forth between the two of them.

"Please, Noct, just take it a little slower." The blond suggested, keeping his voice a tad restrained, not wanting to sound to demanding.

"Yeah, sure." He huffed, holding back his retort at the sight of the adviser struggling to walk with his usual smooth strides. As they waited, Prompto gazed out over the railing, sights becoming veiled and blurred through the heavy fog. He blinked a few times as if that would help to clear it up, knowing full well that it wouldn't make a bit of difference. Squinting to try and see further down, he winced as the movement caused a painful throb to shoot through his cheek.

"You coming, Prom?" He spun his head around towards the sound of Noctis' voice, not realizing that he was now the one falling behind.

"Oh, yeah, coming!" He called back, giving the scene below another glance before chasing after the others, catching up to them in a matter of seconds. As he jogged along, he veered slightly to the right to avoid running into what appeared to be some sort of run-down tractor. Unable to resist, he reached out a hand, gliding it over the now fuzzy surface of the moss-covered contraption. "Dude, this is cool, yet disgusting." He said quietly and sprinkled with amusement.

"Careful." Gladio's voice sounded up as one of Ignis' feet slipped on the mud-like surface on the trail. "The terrain is far from stable, let alone safe." He kept his hand on the man's arm for a moment longer.

"I understand." Ignis responded, a little bit of annoyance in his voice. Turning his head forward, he made sure to walk away from his hold, making it clear that he had it under control.

"Independent as per." Prompto stated, low enough for only Gladio to hear as he stepped up next to him. He stood on his left side, flashing a look over.

"Yeah." Was all the larger man said as he strolled forward, still not trusting the man's steps in the slightest. With a sigh, the blond carried on as well, throwing the occasional glance at the others. He reached up to place a hand over his his eye as his vision unfocused again in the left, which was the only one acting up. Quickly, he lowered it again and tried to ignore it.

Slowly, they were making progress down the slope, it was nowhere as quick as any of them would have liked, but there was nothing that could be done about it. "Wait." Noctis called from the front. "Gonna have to take it easy up here, it gets a bit iffy." He gave a word of warning as he stepped ankle deep into a puddle of water.

"Understood." Ignis replied, taking one step at a time, each one thoughtful and testing to make sure it was steady enough. Out of instincts both Gladio and Prompto kept a little closer to him. Not that they didn't trust him. It was far from that, they both just found it near impossible not to be a little protective given the situation. Plus, they both knew he would be the same way if it were to have been anyone else.

Tediously and carefully they got through it with no falls or stumbles, much to their relief. All the while Prompto kept a wary eye on all the others. Ignis for obvious reasons, and the others just to make sure they didn't unexpectedly lash out at each other. He was waiting for it. Waiting for the moment they would get into another one of their heated arguments again. Of course, he would stay out of the next one, and maybe try to stop them from a safe distance. So far though, he was thankful for their standoffish behavior for once in his life. If they weren't talking to each other, then at least they weren't arguing.

As they carried on, Prompto's eyes landed on yet another vehicle that had been consumed by sludge riddled vegetation. Knowing he would regret it if he didn't do it now. he pulled out his camera to get a quick picture of it. He wasn't exactly in the mood to be taking pictures, it just didn't feel right with this sort of vibe, but he would hate himself later if he didn't get at least a few given the strange beauty of this place. With that done, he wasted no time in catching back up to the others, stopping dead in his tracks when he almost ran into them. Not realizing they had stopped, he peeked around to look to Noctis, "What's going on?" He asked, trying to look over his shoulder.

"Gurangatch." He stated dully, "And a few of them." He already had his blade summoned, held tightly in his hand. With a step forward, he stopped as a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Not so fast." Gladio warned, hand firmly holding onto him with no intentions of releasing him, "How about thinking about others." He met the Prince's eyes as he turned around, seeing primarily rebellion in them, "I know it's difficult for you, but give it a shot." Prompto felt his chest tighten slightly at the thought of them getting into yet another squabble, and out here of all places, but Gladio lifted his hand away, giving him a chance to make the right choice. The blond let out a thankful breath, relaxing slightly.

Noctis stood for a moment, almost staring the larger man down, yet his eyes softened a slight degree when he glanced back to Ignis, seeing him face his general direction. "Prompto, stay close to Ignis, will you? We can take care of these." Gladio gave him a nod, showing that he approved of this decision. Though, the tension didn't simmer down very much even with that agreement.

"Yeah, no problem." Prompto nodded, calling his pistol and holding it firmly in his hand. He took a few steps back to stand closer to Ignis, taking a quick scan around before letting his eyes fall on the man. Even now, he had his own weapons in hands, preparing himself should he be needed. His attention was torn away and back to the others as he made out the first agony filled screech from one of those vile creatures. Gladio had his greatsword buried deep in its back, thrusting it upwards to slice through the rest of its body. He watched as its blood spilled out and dripped off the blade.

"Behind you!" Gladio called out to the prince, forgetting their differences for the time being. The latter spun around, turning just in time to see one crawling towards him as it launched itself out of the murk and towards his face. Lifting his own sword, he was about to slash at it when a shot sounded and it fell to the side, writhing in pain. There was a single bullet hole going through its side, not enough to kill it, but it would keep it down long enough for Noctis to deal the killing blow.

"Nice shot, Prompto!" He called to the blond, turning back to another one that was stalking around behind them.

"All good." He replied, twirling his gun around in his hand. "Everything alright with you?" He asked, now turning to face Ignis, who still had his daggers ready for action.

"It would appear so." He answered calmly, tilting his head every so often with the various sounds of the fight talking place only a few yards away.

Prompto nodded, then slapped himself mentally for his constant forgetting, "Good." He answered out loud instead. A slight shuffling to his left pulled his gaze over, and before him was another gurangatch slithering towards them at a brisk pace, "Iggy, don't move." He advised, stepping between the two of them and carefully took aim at the thing. Pulling the trigger twice, one bullet managed to hit one of its legs. But, to his surprise, the other one missed. Shaking his head and closing his left eye, seeing as his vision was still blurred in that one anyway, he fired a few more times. This time, each one hit a different part of its body and it finally stopped where it was in order roll around, unsure of how to deal with the pain.

"What's going on over there." Gladio's voice broke through as he stabbed down on the last living one's head.

"I-It's nothing." Prompto answered, "I think it's dead." He stepped forward to the now still body lying on the mud and nudged it a couple times with his toe, looking for any sort of reaction, seeing none. He released a sigh, "Yup, dead." He turned to give the other man a thumbs up.

The shield met his gaze and nodded, catching a glimpse of the dark bruise that graced his features. It definitely looked worse than it did. His face fell and he looked away. "Let's hope we don't run into anymore of those things." He said, distracting himself as he flung some left-over blood off his blade and dismissed it.

"Not like they're that hard to deal with." Noctis replied, doing the same with his weapon.

"Maybe not." Gladio started, his old annoyance shining through, "But they still waste time, and all it takes is one minor slip up..." His eyes automatically shifted to Ignis, "for any of us." He said though.

Noctis didn't even reply this time, knowing that whatever came out of his mouth wouldn't matter either way. Either it would be countered, or it wouldn't be taken seriously, so he just gave up on even trying anymore. He looked over to the other two, Ignis making his way over with Prompto close behind him, staying a safe distance to assist at any moment. "Are you two alright?" He asked, realizing he had almost forgotten about them in the midst of fighting.

"Yes, as far as I am concerned, everything is as it should be." Ignis stated, Prompto humming in confirmation.

"Just a little dirty...and damp." The blond added in, trying to lighten the mood as best he could. Although, given the actual mood, he couldn't help but feel a little foolish for the redundant comment. He gave a nervous and quiet laugh, scratching the back of his head, "But yeah, other than that, everything is good to go." He answered a bit more seriously now, tossing the joking parts aside for the time being.

He glanced around, noticing for the first time just how riddled these waters were with all the abandoned machinery. So many half submerged things that have been that way for who knows how long. "Really not liking the look of this place." He said more to himself, as a shiver ran through him from the sight of it all.

"I don't either." Noctis agreed anyway, taking a better look around himself now. "Guess we better kept going though." He threw the enthusiastically-lacking suggestion out there. He stepped passed Gladio as he walked, not even giving him the satisfaction of a glance. The other only huffed as he followed suit.

The blond looked over to Ignis and patted him on the shoulder, "Huh, they are never gonna get over it, are they?" He was half joking, but underneath that was full worry, wondering if they ever would patch things up. He knew they had their moments, but this was lasting far longer than he remembered any other lasting. Not to mention it seemed to be a lot deeper than the others.

"Like I said previously, just give it some time. Eventually they will work it out." Ignis assured, now stepping forward himself to follow the others before they got left behind. "Let us get going." He turned his head to call over his shoulder.

"Right." The blond responded, slightly hopping forward and switched over to a gentle walk next to Ignis, both of them taking their time in reaching the others.


	3. More Than a Bruise

"Careful, Ignis." Prompto spoke softly as they both took a step up the elevated ground.

Ignis sighed heavily, "Right."

He kept his hands at the ready, but kept his eyes on the overrun structures to his right. All of them covered in moss and grime, appearing as though they may fall apart any second now. It was hard to imagine all of this stuff being in working order from looking at it now. He glanced around as the further along they went, the more various foliage he saw. Looking further down, he spotted the other two, waiting at the bottom. And they still didn't appear to be acknowledging each other.

Eventually, the both managed to reach them, and Prompto finally felt safe enough to take a step back away from Ignis, trusting him to stay on his feet now that the ground was somewhat level. "There's uh, there's quite a bit of water down here, so just watch your step." He turned to tell Ignis as he felt his foot squish down into a puddle.

"I'm quite aware of that, thank you." He replied, feeling the moisture for himself quite easily. With the now lack of sunlight, the other three flipped on their lights, shining them around and gazing at their new surroundings. What ground there was, was covered in moss and other sludge-like foliage.

"We need to make this quick." Noctis commented, already not liking the feel or look of this place. "This thing better not be too well hidden." Taking a few steps down the next decline, he froze in place, feeling himself becoming more frustrated by this new obstacle. "You have to be kidding me." He groaned, stepping close to the contraption blocking their path.

"What the hell is that!?" Prompto asked, jogging passed the prince to take a look at it for himself. He looked it over, running his hands over it and looking it up and down. "I think it's some kind of vehicle." He finally said after inspecting it.

"Any chance to get it moving?" Gladio asked, a hint of doubt in his voice.

"Perhaps if we can get it running again, then it is completely possible to get it out of the way." Ignis spoke up from the back after listening to their conversation.

"Soooo, does that mean it's backtracking time?" Prompto asked, clearly not too thrilled about the idea of going back up, knowing that going uphill would be much more of a challenge for the other than coming down had been. "Lead the way." He gestured to Noctis with his hand, then waved them upwards. Once he walked by he looked over to Gladio to gesture to him as well, but found himself looking down when the other glanced at him. "After you." He said quieter, lifting his head back up when he was no longer facing him. "Come on Iggy, right behind ya."

"Very well." He replied, willingly walking ahead of the younger. Accepting a little bit of assistance at the very least, though he wasn't sure that could be counted as such. Having someone watch your step from behind could hardly be considered too much help.

Ignis made a slight disapproving sound when he stepped back into the water, feeling it soak back through his pants leg. He hesitated for only a moment before taking the next few steps until it was back past his knees. Once they were all back at the top, Prompto's gaze immediately flashed over to that same structure as before, "Think that might have anything to do with it?" He asked, rather quietly.

"Wish I could say." Ignis stated flatly.

"Oh no, I didn't meant to..." Prompto stuttered over his words, feeling a bit guilty about the small question. "I wasn't thinking."

"It's alright." He replied, holding up a hand for him to calm down, "I am quite aware that you didn't mean anything by it."

"You're the one that's good with this kind of stuff." Noctis called back to the blond, "Wanna come take a look at it for yourself?" He stepped to the side to allow the other to get through with no problem.

"Yeah, sure, I can do that." Prompto held up a finger, signalling that he would be over in a moment. He strolled by Noctis, noticing how he looked right at the left side of his face, "I, um, I'll be right back." He said as he turned away to climb the stairs up to the machinery. Without hesitating, Noctis followed after him, letting his curiosity take over now.

He followed after the blond, grabbing him by the shoulder and making him turn to face him now. "Prom?" He asked, grabbing his face under the chin and turning his head to get a better look, "What exactly happened?" He asked, not needing to specify what he was talking about. Noctis' eyes scanned over the area, taking in the dark hue of it and the swelling which wasn't there earlier.

Quickly, Prompto gripped his wrist and pulled it away, turning away from the other now that he was free, "It's no big deal." He answered, "It's nothing more than a bruise, so don't make a big deal about it.

He let out an annoyed sigh, "Looks worse than 'a bruise' to me." He looked up to meet the other's gaze and saw the look he was giving him, "Have you even looked at it?"

He slowly shook his head, "No, there's no reason to. There's more important things to worry about." He shot a look down to Ignis as he said this and went to turn around again, but once more, he was stopped in his spot.

"Tell me." He repeated, a bit more firmly this time, showing that he wasn't going to allow this to be brushed off again.

Prompto fidgeted a little, gazing over to Gladio for a moment and then back to Noctis, "It was an accident." He finally answered, "I was in the wrong spot at the wrong time I guess." He shrugged and gave him a sideways smile. "But it's alright."

He had followed his look when he glanced over, "So Gladio did this?"

He hesitated before nodding, "But, like I said, it's not his fault, tempers were rising, it was a reflex. I understand, so just let it go." His voice carried a pleading air to it, and it almost sounded as though he was embarrassed about the whole thing.

"Does he know?" The prince asked, "Does he know how hard he actually hit you?" He raised a hand to Prompto's face, touching the area lightly. His fingers only glanced over it and the other hissed at the touch and winced away from it. From what he could feel, the skin felt a tad taut and a bit warm.

"I-I think so?" He questioned, "I don't know." He lifted his own hand to cover it out of self-consciousness. "Either way, it's fine. So please, just don't say anything about this. All of us have enough to worry about."

Reluctantly, Noctis agreed, "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say." It was obvious he wasn't alright with keeping quiet about it, but he understood where he was coming from, so he would stay silent about it for the time being. For Prompto if nothing else.

Prompto nodded his thanks and looked down as he continued up the stairs, throwing another glance over his shoulder as Noctis rejoined the others. Finally he turned to take a look at the controls, at least this was something to distract him and keep him busy for a bit. He took a quick look over and pulled and flipped a few things that looked as though they would do something. There was a bit of noise and he gazed up at a few bellows of black smoke as they puffed up. "I think I got something!" He called over his shoulder.

"Is it working?" Gladio called back.

"I think so." He replied, with a bit of doubt as the smoke slowly dissipated. "Or not." He added on when it stopped altogether.

"Nothing but a hunk of junk if you ask me." Noctis spoke up.

"You're one to talk." The larger man grunted out.

Noctis was about to retort again, but Prompto swiftly spoke up, talking loud enough to prevent him from doing so and ending the argument there, "Says here there's a back-up generator somewhere."

"Such things normally do have a back-up power supply." Ignis agreed, raising his hand as he spoke.

"Apparently, there is a key in the shed." Prompto leaned in as he read, "Where ever that is. Anyone happen to know?" He looked to the others for answers, none of them speaking up. "I'll take that as a 'no' then." He snapped his fingers as he turned back and made his way back down the stairs to the others.

"Is there a way we have not yet been?" Ignis suggested, still doing what he could to help given his current impairment. "If there is, perhaps we could give those a go."

"Wouldn't hurt." The blond backed up, "What about you two?" He asked, glancing between them, "Yay, nay, anything?"

"What does his highness suggest." Gladio asked sourly, almost spitting the word 'highness'. Both Ignis and Prompto only stood there, both no longer feeling bothered enough to try and prevent them from throwing their remarks back and forth. It wouldn't have done any good anyway and they both knew that.

Noctis scoffed at that, and only faced the other two to speak, "It might be an option. At least I don't remember seeing anything that looked remotely like a shed on the way over." He cast a quick look over to where they had originally come from, doing a quick scan over and still seeing nothing. Though, all the mist obscuring his vision didn't exactly help his cause any. "You guys can wait here if you want, I'll go take a look around." Is what he said, but they knew he only wanted an excuse to get away for a few minutes.

"Sooo, you two still not getting along?" Prompto asked rather shyly, looking down and to the left, still trying to hide that side of his face the best he could.

It was obvious to Gladio what he was doing, and though he knew the intentions of it, it did nothing to make him feel any better about it.

He only made a noise at that, not exactly answering the question, but he got his point across nonetheless.

"Good talk." The blond replied, putting his hands behind his head as he turned to face the control system again, pretending as though he was studying it. An uncomfortable silence fell over them and he wished Noctis would hurry up and get back so that they could continue with their task. This atmosphere was killing him.

After a couple moments, he started thinking about what Noctis had said and hesitantly pulled out his phone. He stared down at it before he finally turned it on and opened the camera on, switching it to the front camera. Casually glancing behind him making sure the others weren't looking, well, making sure Gladio wasn't, he gazed into the camera to take a look at his face for the first time since it happened. And Noct was right, It did look slightly worse than a bruise. Or maybe quite a bit worse. It was dark in color with an almost greenish hue, and the swelling was more than obvious. Slowly he looked up to his eye, and it definitely explained why his vision kept blurring so much. Red had crept across the bottom of it, and it was a bright red. He brought up his hand and poked at it lightly, flinching and gasping as it brought back the throbbing.

Looking at it now, he couldn't help but wonder if something was broken. Not able to look at it any longer, he clicked his phone off and stuffed it back in his pocket. He turned back, surprised to see Noctis walking back towards them. "Hey, ya find anything?" He asked, meeting the other as he walked up.

"I hope so." Noctis replied, "There's a path that slopes downward, I haven't checked it out yet, but it looks promising."

"Sweet, let's go then." Prompto bounced by, patting the other on the arm as he did so.

"Wait." Gladio spoke up, "You didn't see any other ways?" He asked, in a bit of a condescending tone. "Any other way that would be, I don't know, a bit easier to traverse."

"No." Noctis answered matter-of-factly, "I didn't. That's the only thing I saw other than the way we took to get here. And I highly doubt it's anywhere back there." He folded his arms over his chest as he spoke.

"Better than nothing though, right guys?" Prompto asked nervously, "Still better than nothing at all."

"I do feel inclined to agree with you on that one." Ignis backed up, sensing what he was trying to do, "Now, I say we stop dilly-dallying and get to moving." He walked past the other two and when he reached Prompto the two of them started walking together. When he didn't hear the others behind him yet, he added, "You're not going to get left behind by a blind man, are you?"

"Right behind you." Noctis replied dully, turning his back on Gladio to follow. The latter said nothing as he did the same, only letting out a huff.


	4. Doctor Ignis

**Ignis finally has to intervene.**

* * *

This slope wasn't quite as steep as the other was, but it still caused quite a bit of an ordeal, especially Ignis, who was actually accepting a bit of guidance from Gladio for once. Though, that was probably due to the fact that it kept the other man distracted enough from his lingering animosity. He was steady enough on his own anyway. Also, with the pace they were going it easily created some distance between the prince and them. Prompto made sure to fill the space between them, treating them almost like animals in the sense of cutting off their line of sight from one another.

A few more steps and their limbs were once again submerged in the green-tinged water. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that they literally could not see further down than an inch from the surface. They waded through, following closer to Noctis now as he veered to the left, and Prompto inwardly groaned at seeing another steep incline they had to work their way up. He glanced back at the other two, glad to see that they at least seemed up to it.

"You two wanna wait down here?" Prompto asked them, still unsure if it was a good idea for Ignis to come along. He didn't want it to seem like he was a burden or anything, but he felt inclined to suggest the safest course of action.

"I am quite sure I can handle this." He answered, pushing forward despite the offer. Gladio only shook his had as he followed suit, keeping one hand placed on the center of his back as they walked.

"Alright then, if you say so." The blond replied, taking up the back now. He mainly kept his head down the rest of the way, literally watching his step now as he didn't even trust his own footing in this place. And he had his sight, so he couldn't imagine going through this blind. Occasionally he would glance up, finding himself often watching the feet of Ignis as well, just waiting for the one misstep that he hoped wouldn't come. So focused on that, he felt himself lurch forward after his own foot slipped on a particularly slippery spot. Luckily, he was able to catch himself before he connected with the ground completely.

Both Gladio and Ignis had stopped at his gasp and turned towards him, "Everything alright back there?" The latter asked, facing his general direction.

"Y-yeah." Prompto called up, already pulling himself back up, using surrounding foliage to hold on to. "Slippery spot came outta nowhere." He joked, now standing straight. "Ok, let's keep going, shall we?" He clapped his hands together as he climbed back up, thankful when they finally did the same. Brushing off his slight embarrassment he trudged on, making sure to be a lot more careful of where he was going and taking each step with far more care.

"Well, I guess this is something." Noctis spoke up as he reached the top, looking on at a tower of sorts.

"I would say something." Gladio replied, now gazing at the same structure, "But does it look like a shed to you?"

Noctis scoffed at that, "I don't see you spotting anything better." He countered, sauntering towards it.

"Well, you could always climb up." Prompto offered, "It's pretty high, so you could get a pretty nice vantage point from up there. Ya know, take a look around." He rambled awkwardly, voice slowly dying away as it trailed off. "Just a thought." He quickly added, looking to the side.

"Have a point there, I guess." Gladio agreed, "So, who wants to go up?"

"I guess I will." Noctis volunteered willingly, not waiting for a response as he was already headed for it at a fast walk.

"I'll go too." The blond held up a hand as he jogged the few feet to catch up. Once they were a good distance away, he glanced back at the others, seeing that they were talking, and he couldn't help but wonder about what."So..." He started, words reserved in their tone. "Do you two plan on hating each other forever?" There was a moment of silence before he quickly defended himself after catching the way the other cut his eyes over, "Not saying you should just get over it or anything. Just that...just you know, maaayyybe it wouldn't hurt for you two to sit and talk about thin-"

"I don't have anything to say to him, alright!?" Noctis unintentionally snapped at him.

Prompto flinched slightly at the sudden outburst, but quickly tried to recompose himself, "Ok, ok, I get it." He nervously laughed, "Sorry I asked. I know, it's not my business."

"You're right, it's not." He replied, a little quieter this time, keeping his gaze forward as he quickened his pace, leaving the other behind when they reached the tower. Without waiting for Prompto, Noctis started the climb upwards, and could hear the more reserved and thoughtful clinks that came after him. They were purposefully keeping their distance.

He didn't know what was wrong with him, or why he was lashing out at Prompto. He knew he did nothing wrong, but he just felt so frustrated with everyone at the moment, and honestly wanted to be left alone, wanted all the others to quit pestering and lecturing him on every little thing he did. It seemed like he couldn't even breathe without it being criticized by someone. With those various thoughts swimming around, he was hardly aware that he had reached the top and was just standing there. Prompto had even caught up to him now, but instead of questioning why he stopped, he only stood there and waited for him to move.

"Well, if we can't see anything from up here, then we won't be able to from anywhere." Prompto stated as he strolled over to the railing to grip it as he leaned forward to take in the view before him. "If this place wasn't so death-riddled, I'd say it was actually kinda beautiful."

"Why don't you take a picture then?" Noctis asked sarcastically, walking to the other side to try and spot anything he could.

"That's actually not a bad idea." Prompto agreed, choosing to ignore the tone and only listen to the words spoken. There was zero hesitation as he retrieved his camera once more and got to work on focusing it, trying to get the perfect angle. As he was doing this, something caught his attention. "Wait a second." He muttered more to himself, but Noctis heard the way he said it and was next to him in a second.

"What is it?" He asked, now apparently interested.

"Give me a moment." Prompto held up a finger, signaling for him to hold on a second or two. "Just gotta zoom a bit." He wanted to make sure he was seeing correctly and it wasn't just his eye acting up again. With a few more adjustments he was finally able to zone in on something. "There we go." Holding the camera still where it was, he waved Noctis to peer through himself.

Noctis complied, wrapping his own hands around the device, taking it from the other's hold and took a look through. "Look like a shed to you?" The blond asked, leaning into the rail again and immediately backed off when it whined against the unwelcomed weight.

"Looks close enough to one I guess." Noctis replied, squinting to try and get a better view of it. "Hard to say with all the fog, but it could be."

"Sweet, let's get the others and go then." Prompto bounced in his spot and patted the other on the arm in a gesture that told him to hurry up. He got serious once again when the other didn't make any move to get going. "Something wrong?" He asked, taking his place beside him again.

"Hmm?" Noctis asked, meeting his gaze, "Nah, everything's good." He forced out and handed the camera back. "Come on." He turned his back to him and began the descent back down without waiting.

"Yeah, sure." Prompto said lowly, glancing down to the others first before joining Noctis in climbing down. He went to rub his eye again when fog clouded over it, but he quickly thought against that, remembering how the last time did nothing to help the cause any. He pulled out his phone to take another look, grimacing once more at the appearance. The swelling was still getting worse, as well as the redness, which now looked as though it had spread even further.

"You coming?"

He jumped at the sound of Noctis' voice, realizing it was quite a ways down now. "Yeah, just a second." He called back, "Just wanna get a few more pictures. No need to wait for me, I'll catch up." He didn't get a reply, but the sound of his steps continuing was well enough of an answer. He breathed out a relieved breath and returned his phone to his pocket. And quickly, as an afterthought, he made sure to get a few shots just in case. "That should do it." He breathed out, hoping they looked decent enough since he wasn't really paying attention as he snapped them.

As Noctis reached the bottom, he made a beeline to the others, well more like to Ignis, Gladio just happened to be there as well, "We think we found something." He informed as soon as they were within hearing distance, "It was hard to tell from the mist, but it looks like it could be the shed." While he was explaining this Prompto came up behind him, camera still in hands.

"Alright, I believe I'm satisfied now." He waved it in the air, silently letting the other two know what took him so long.

Gladio was trying not to look, but his eyes were just automatically drawn to the damage marring his face any time it was visible to him. His own fists clenched at his sides, that moment replaying in his mind as regret flooded him. Why couldn't he just be more careful with his actions? He forced his hands to relax, and then he realized that the blond was actually talking, but he managed to figure out was he was talking about from the way he held his camera up, "Get any good ones?" He asked, feigning a listening ear.

"Yeah." He said it as if it was obvious, "Look who you're talking to, of course I did." He put the camera away and looked back up to see Gladio staring at him. "Uhhh, what is it?" He asked nervously, looking away now.

Gladio found himself looking away, "It's nothing." He ground out and turned around, "Noctis, care to lead the way to this supposed shed?" He asked in that disbelieving tone of his. Ignis picked up on the tones between Prompto and Gladio, something sounded off to him and he now wondered if they didn't have some sort of problems floating around between them now.'

"It'd be my honor." Noctis nearly bit out, shoving by the larger man to take over the lead. The shield mumbled something incoherent under his breath, folding his arms and forcing himself to take the spot behind him.

Prompto stared at the backs of their heads for a moment and turned his head to look at Ignis now, "Shall we?" He asked in the most charming voice he could, holding out a hand for the other to grab onto, then quickly remembered the other's visual impairment.

As they walked, Ignis intentionally slowed down, making the two of them to fall behind a few feet and quietly whispered, "Is there...something troubling you?" He paused for a fraction of a second, "Or rather someone, I should say."

Even though he couldn't see it, he could still feel the ever so slight jump at the question, "No, why would you think that?" The subtle pitch change in his voice gave away that he knew exactly what was wrong, and was enough for Ignis to push the matter further.

"I think you know very well what I'm talking about." He kept his voice low, not wanting the others to catch any of what was being said, "Now, you can either tell me yourself, or I'll have to ask Gladio what's going on. Your choice."

Prompto's mouth formed a hard line as he thought about it. He would have preferred not to talk about it anymore, but at the same time, he didn't want the others to force Gladio to talk about it, knowing the guilt he must have brewing inside him. "Fine." He finally gave in, defeat clear in his tone, "But you can't say anything, please."

"This stays between us." He nodded his agreement.

"Well, back on the train...when they were arguing." He started, taking a long pause, really dreading speaking about the whole thing. "And before I continue, you have to know it was all accidentally and reflexes and anger was in the air and all that jazz." He began rambling.

"Prompto." Ignis shut him up quickly, "Get on with it if you don't mind."

"Right, right." He took a deep breath. "When they were arguing and I kinda...got in the way, well, there was a bit of lashing out, out of reflex of course." He continued with the excuses, "Look, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I shouldn't have intervened, I know tha-"

Ignis cut him off for the second time, "How bad is it?"

He had to think about it for a moment, closing his right eye so that he could only see out the left. Until he did that, he didn't realize how low his visibility actually was, he could barely see out of it at all. And what he could was glossed over. "It's not too bad." He lied, re-opening his other. "Just a bit of bruising, nothing I can't handle."

Ignis hummed to himself, "Why don't I believe you?" He asked rhetorically. "If it's not that bad then allow me to take a...feel for myself." He awkwardly corrected himself before saying 'see'. The hesitation told him everything. "That is unless touching it causes too much pain."

The blond had an internal struggle with himself, no matter what he said it didn't matter now. If he refused, Ignis would know, and if he felt it for himself, he would also know. "He let out a groan as he caved, "Fine, give me your hand." Ignis held it out for him, and holding it by the wrist, Prompto guided his hand to his cheek bone and released his hold, "Just don't poke it if you can help it."

"Don't worry." He replied, allowing his hand to lightly trace over it, then without warning, he added pressure.

Prompto's reaction was instant. "Shit!" He cried out before he could stop himself, and jerked his head away. He quickly bit the inside of his lip to try and keep himself from making anymore noise, but small whimpering noises still escaped. He slowly let his gaze drift up to see the others staring back at him out of concern. Not trusting himself to open his mouth yet, he waved for them to turn around.

"Just a bit of a stumble." Ignis answered for him, "Nothing to see here." The others looked hesitant, but they trusted Ignis' words and did as he said, though that didn't quite quench their worry. Ignis gave it a moment before he spoke to Prompto, "Just a bruise, huh?" Prompto didn't respond, but he could feel his gaze on him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say there might be a fracture somewhere beneath that 'bruise'."

The blond only raised a hand to lightly hold it over the offended area protectively. "Hmm." He quietly replied. It wasn't an agreement, or a protest, just a noise, most likely out of his trust being tampered with. It took far longer than he would have liked for the throbbing to subside enough for it to be tolerable once again, and he made a note to himself. Don't let Ignis inspect injuries anymore.


	5. Insult to Injury

**Ok, I think I was cruel in this chapter just for the hell of it. But, I promise things will eventually work out, I have my reasons. lol**

* * *

They were moving forward a bit more quickly now that Ignis was getting a tad more accustomed to the terrain. Though, that didn't stop him from tripping over the occasional jut or dip in the path, but luckily either Gladio or Prompto were there to catch him whenever he was about to falter. And, of course, each time he would apologize for the inconvenience, and like clockwork, the others would assure him it was no problem. Gladio gazed upward, now aware of a shadow that had been slowly drifting over them for some time. With the sky as obscured as it was, he could only assume that night was slowly approaching. It was so easy to lose track of time here.

"I think we may need to find a place to settle down soon." He spoke his concerns. "I'm not too fond of seeing what the night has to offer in these parts." He took a glance around as if expecting things to already begin to show up.

Noctis kept forward, ignoring the initial comments, "Noct." He pushed on, forcing some authority in his voice. "Try being a bit more responsible, we need to find a suitable place until morning."

The prince finally stopped, but stayed facing the way he was. "We don't have much further to go." He replied stubbornly, going to take another step.

"And what if we don't get there before we run out of daylight, what then?" Gladio questioned knowingly, crossing his arms across his chest. "You intend to risk that?"

Noctis now turned on his heel, gritting his teeth, "You know damn well that's not what I mean."

"Then what!?" Gladio practically shouted back, causing Prompto to flinch at the sudden outburst. "You think when we arrive at that shed, that may not even be the shed, that there will be a cozy place ready for us to spend the night?" He spat, standing his ground.

"Of course not." He answered anyway.

"Guys, please, there's no need for this." The blond tried to pacify their growing tempers, holding up his hands in a calming gesture, "We can just talk about this."

"I'll 'talk' when he decides to listen." Noctis retorted. A heavy silence fell over them, making the others feel a level of discomfort, which was only broken by the slight slosh and shuffle from nearby beings. It went by as nothing at first, but when the sounds increased in volume and it became obvious that they were quickly approaching, they chose to give them the light of day.

"Uh, guys?" Prompto was the first to speak up, seeing as the others were still staring each other down. "You can argue later, but now I think we have some company." He lifted a hand to pointed somewhere off to his right, towards another small body of water. It was hard to make out, but it was clear to see the little humanoid figures dancing around, their chattering no longer in the background as it now made its way to the front of their attention.

"C'mon." Noctis complained as he summoned his weapon once again, Gladio, forgetting their disagreement for the time being to follow suit.

Prompto naturally moved closer to Ignis without being asked to, assuming they were using the same strategy as before, seeing as it worked out fine the first time and all. He summoned his gun and held it up, readying himself to use it at any given moment. "Alright, just let me know if you need me. I mean if I miss something." He corrected awkwardly, not even sure what he was asking of the other anymore, "You understand what I mean."

"Yes, I know what you mean." Ignis assured, calling his own daggers more so out of habit than anything. "I'll make sure to keep an ear out for any uninvited guests."

Prompto nodded, "Good." He added on as an afterthought. He quickly turned to his left as he heard one of the creatures stalking towards them, almost shocked when he realized how close it was; he hadn't eve seen it until then, and if he didn't hear it, it might have gone completely unnoticed. He aimed quickly and released a shot straight into its chest. Or that's what he tried to do, but with his tampered depth perception, it only grazed its shoulder. "Dammit." He muttered, trying to aim once more, now holding the gun with both hands.

As he tried to hold the gun steady, trying to make sure he had a clear shot this time, he lost sight of it for a split moment as it darted to the right, and it took him one moment too long to realize it was going around him. He spun around, discarding the idea of using his gun, not wanting to risk it with how off his shots were now, "Iggy!" He called out in warning, grabbing the man by the arm to yank him away as the creatures claws barely skimmed by, only managing to graze him on the shoulder.

The sudden shift in the weight combined with the uncertain traction of the ground beneath their feet, they found themselves tilting to the side, tilting far too much for their liking. Before they could react it was already too late, they were already falling. In the moment, it was a mess of disorientation, and Prompto wasn't sure what was happening until a new agony flared up and shot through his face. Things were lost on him for a moment as his vision completely went in and out and ringing was the only thing he heard.

If his cheek bone wasn't broken, then it definitely was now. He remained down where he was, trying to ride out the waves of pain. Wanting to do nothing but curl up on himself, he slowly remembered why he was down in the first place. "Ignis!" He half croaked half slurred out, gazing around through hazy eyes that doubled every fraction of a second. The sight of everything warping made him feel nauseous and he had to close his eyes against it.

He stayed like that for a few seconds, or what he thought was a few seconds. Opening them up once again, he was aware of the other three looking down on him. "Wh-wha?" He asked, glancing from one to the other, now barely making out their faces. Feeling the continuous throb in the side of his face, he lifted a hand to lightly feel it, flinching at his own touch. For that slight moment, he felt the wet and sticky sensation of blood.

"Prom." Noctis crouched down, kneeling in front of him and tilted his head back to take a look for himself. He could hear the prince hiss to himself at the sight of it. "It looks pretty scraped up." He informed, turning Prompto's face to the side. "You know, we have potions if you want. This can get fixed up real fast."

At that Prompto jerked his head away, causing his vision to swim with the motion, but he hoped it didn't show. "It's fine." He replied stubbornly, pushing Noctis' hand away and unsteadily got to his feet. He swayed slightly, but quickly steadied himself, "Don't waste any of them on something like this." He waved a hand in a dismissing motion. Then the thought finally hit him, "Wait," His eyes landed on Ignis, "Are you alright?" He asked, remembering how close the claws had come to the other.

"Just a bit of a wardrobe malfunction." Ignis replied, pointing to his shoulder where his clothes were now shredded. But luckily, Prompto saw no damage other than the fabric.

He let out a sigh of relief, "I'm so sorry." He apologized anyway.

"Look, he's fine, nothing to be sorry about." Noctis reminded, now getting to his own feet.

"Th-that's not what I mean." He took a deep breath. "It's my fault it was able to slip by. If I didn't miss that first shot, I could have stopped it, and I put you at risk. It doesn't matter that you didn't get hurt, it's the fact that you could have."

"Prompto." Ignis spoke now. "You know as well as I do that you cannot take full responsibility for this." His voice was weighted with seriousness, "I wont say it solely falls onto one individual, but I will say it is not yours alone." He said nothing more on the subject as he turned away from the others and in a much lighter tone, "Now, I suggest we find that camping location; I assume it is nearly night now."

"Yeah." Gladio responded, tearing his eyes away from the blond as Ignis' words echoed in his head. He would get to that talk eventually, but now still didn't feel like the time to do so. The longer he waited though, the more his guilt and shame was building up and it was getting harder and more painful to hold it in.

* * *

With the steadily darkening sky, the warm blue glow of a haven could now more easily be spotted in the distance. All it took to reach it was yet another uphill trek, all of them telling themselves the effort would be worth it in order to have a good night's sleep. Well, as good as was possible with all the floating animosity and grudges that were souring the already dreadful mood. Reaching the rock, Gladio was quick to get to work in setting things up, Prompto right next to him to offer his assistance. Wanting to help himself just to prevent Noctis from doing so, afraid it would only result in another heated conversation.

The fact that no one was talking to each other, things seemed to get set up rather swiftly. Together, the two of them assisted in guiding Ignis to his seat, making sure he was situated before either of them moved. Without the exchange of any words, Gladio took his own seat across from Noctis, both of which stared into the fire. Prompto still watched from where he was, feeling the apprehension radiating off of them. To him it felt like nothing less than a ticking time bomb. And, it wasn't long before Gladio decided to relocate, sitting himself a few feet away from everyone else.

"I can't speak for the rest of you, but I'm starving." Ignis broke the awkward silence, much to Prompto's satisfaction. "Noctis, why don't you put those lessons to use instead of letting them go to waste."

Noctis only hummed and adamantly pushed himself back up to go rummage through their supplies. Sure, they had plenty to work with, but he pushed all that stuff aside, allowing his hand to fall upon and wrap around a cup of noodles, 'Better than nothing.' He thought to himself as he pulled put enough for all of them and begun preparing them.

While he did that, the blond glanced over at Gladio, gaze landing on his back. Slowly, he turned his face to view the fire again, and swallowing his uncertainties, he pushed himself up and took a few thoughtful steps in his direction. Hesitation lingering between each one in case he changed his mind.

"What do you want?" He froze where he was at the question, stopping mid-step.

He opened his mouth to speak, then quickly closed it when he thought against his initial conversation starter. "I was just thinking...that it might be a bit lonely over here?" What he had originally planned on being a statement ended up coming out as a question.

"Nope." Gladio gave his short answer, still facing nothing in particular.

"Are you sure?" Prompto asked in a softer tone, "I'm sure no one would mind if you were to rejoin us over here. And maybe it could help things seem a little normal at least for a bit." He did what he could to persuade, but deep down he knew it to be useless. Nothing but wishful thinking.

"Don't you get it?" He rhetorically asked, now turning his head, "Things can't be 'normal.'" He put emphasis on the word. His eyes were drawn back to the bruise, and with a deep breath he turned back away. "Look, I get what you're trying to do, and I get it, but just don't worry about it." He spoke easier now, keeping his voice at a reasonable tone.

"I know." Prompto replied, disheartened. "I just thought..."

"Well, think again." Gladio quickly replied, reflexively. Regretting it, realizing he was doing the same thing as before. Taking out his frustrations in the wrong way. He wanted to give his response another go, but the sound of retreating footsteps told him it was too late for that. His hand balled up against the ground as he switched his attention back out to the landscape before him, allowing his resentment at himself to continue to grow.

"What was that about?" Ignis asked when he heard the other return, sitting back next to him.

Prompto looked down to his hands, finding them quite fascinating for the time being, "Nothing really." He answered vaguely. "Just asked if he wanted to come back over here, but I think he just wants to be alone."

"That would be most likely." Ignis agreed, "Him and Noctis are similar in that sense."

"What sense?" Prompto replied. Of course he was already sure he knew, but it felt nice to be having a civilized conversation with someone. He found a bit of comfort in it.

Ignis seemed to smile to himself, ready for the response he was about to receive. "In the sense in which they both sulk around when things go awry."

At this, Noctis turned to face them, "Hey, I don't 'sulk'."

"Of course you don't." Ignis said in a mocking voice. Noctis continued to mumble something under his breath which the others couldn't make out, so Ignis now turned his attention back to Prompto, "And just like Noctis, Gladio will get over it. He works through things in strange ways, so you'll have to take what he says with a grain of salt."


	6. A Different Kind of Hurt

**Okie doke, so I'm gonna try to finish this one up in the next chapter, and of not that one, then it will be the one after that.**

* * *

He rolled over onto his side, moving naturally in his sleep, like one does. Turning over, Prompto was jerked awake as his face made contact with the bottom of the tent. Hissing at the unexpected jolt, he swiftly shoved down his need to complain about remembering that the others were asleep. Glad that he was closest to the opening, he carefully and quietly crawled his way out, taking care not to jostle any of the others next to him. As he got out, he realized the fire had long ago died down, only a few embers glowed in and out of existence. Taking another look back to make sure no one else was awake, he walked a few feet away.

Letting his gaze wander upward he could see the beginnings of daylight as it filtered through, barely reaching him through all the fog. Slowly he realized that he could only half see it. Tentatively, he reached up to feel his eye, fingers only glancing over taut skin. He reached for his phone, fumbling with it in his panic. Switching it on, he used his camera once again to take a look. His one good eye landed directly on the other, and it was easy to figure out why he couldn't see out of it. It seemed like it was completely swollen shut.

"That looks bad." Prompto jumped at the voice, immediately clicking his phone off and stuffing it in his pocket. He turned to his left, more so than he should have had to, and found Noctis standing not far away. He didn't remember seeing him on the way out.

"What are you doing up?" Prompto asked, trying to keep things more casual, yet he remained standing awkwardly where he was.

"Couldn't sleep." He responded, "You?"

Prompto nodded slowly, "Same." He glanced back at the tent, then back to the other, "Did you sleep at all?"

Noctis seemed to think about it for a moment, "A bit, maybe. It's hard to say. Whatever it was, it wasn't long." He leaned up against the railing he was standing near, crossing one leg over the other and crossing his arms, "Figured we should wake the others soon, need to get going."

"I guess it might be a better idea if I just do that." Prompto offered. "Not sure Gladio would be up to seeing you first thing in the morning." He only half joked. Without waiting for an answer he took the few steps back over to the tent and crouched down at the entrance, hesitating before crawling partially through. Thankfully, Ignis was closer. If he was being honest, he wasn't exactly looking forward to waking Gladio either. He gently shook his shoulder, "Iggy?" He called relatively softly. "Wake up."

Groggily, Ignis slowly sat up, facing Prompto's general direction. "What time is it?" He asked before even getting completely up.

"Ummm." The blond started and pulled out his phone, "A few past seven." He returned at and continued to crawl around Ignis and over to the other. "Noct is waiting outside by the way." He added before reaching out for Gladio now, waking him in the same matter. "Come on."

He grumbled for a bit, having not gotten much sleep himself and not appreciating the rude awakening. Eventually though, he managed to crack his eyes open and cut them over at the one doing the waking. It seemed odd to him. Odd that Prompto was the one waking him, wasn't it normally the other way around? "Up already?"

"Obviously." He shrugged. "The others are already awake, so we'll be leaving soon. With that, he worked his way back out, hearing a 'Yeah, yeah.' from behind him as he did so.

"Let's try and get this all done with today if we can." Noctis was saying as he exited once more. "Get that key, get things working, get the weapon, and get out." He let out a sigh, "Sounds easy enough, right?" He turned to face Ignis with that last part.

"Mostly." Ignis replied, pushing his glasses up a bit, "Though, it may be a bit more challenging than just 'getting'."

By now Gladio was emerging from the depths of the tent, saying nothing as he walked right by the group, already getting to work with taking everything down and packing everything up. "Want some help...with that?" Prompto asked as he waved his hand, voice dropping slightly part way through when Gladio didn't so much as glance over, "Or not, it's whatevs." He slowly lowered his hand back to his side.

"Let's get a move on." Gladio grumbled, stepping by them after a few minutes of cleaning everything up.

Noctis only looked over to Prompto and shrugged, who in turn let out a sigh. "Ready to go Ignis?" He asked, placing a hand upon his upper back before receiving his answer. "Watch your step, it's a little wonky in this area."

"Thank you, Prompto, I think I can get it from here." He nodded his appreciation though, and walked after the others, Prompto choosing to remain behind him just to keep an eye on him. With one more quick glance at their camp, he did the same, falling into a steady pace at the back, watching the others from there as he did. It almost took him by surprise when they stopped as soon as they did. "Are you serious?" He asked, in disbelief, "We were right here? I mean, it's like five feet from the haven."

"Isn't it better coming over here when you can actually see?" Gladio asked, never turning around, instantly wishing he would have thought before saying it.

"Well...when you put it like that." The blond replied, going to walk ahead now that they were on level ground and Ignis shouldn't have many issues. On his way by, he felt his shoulder bump into one of the others. "Oh, sorry." He quickly apologized, turning to see it was Noctis.

"Don't worry about it." He returned the look, and forced himself to break the contact in order to check this place out. "Did you get to find out where that generator was?" He tossed the question back as he began his search.

Prompto took a few seconds before responding, lost in his own recollections, "Umm, I believe I saw them back at the control panel, I'm not sure though." He hummed to himself as he thought about it further, "Don't quote me on that though."

"How sure are you then?"

"Enough that I'm about seventy-five percent sure it's there." He crossed his arms, "The other twenty-five percent tells me that it's long gone or destroyed."

"At least the odds are in our favor." Noctis sighed a bit more exaggerated than needed, "But, at least I found the key." He crouched down next to a metal shelf and dug around in a box until he lifted it between two fingers, holding it high enough for the other two to see.

"Yup, that looks like a key to me." Prompto agreed, "A bit rusty, but I'm positive it'll still work."

"We'll have no choice but to hope it does." Gladio retorted, already turning around to start heading back. "If it doesn't, well, we'll just have to find another way around that thing."

Noctis said nothing, but faced Prompto and lightly shook his head. Stuffing the key in his pocket, he took the few steps over to Ignis and patted him on the upper arm, "You heard the man." He sighed as he let his hand slide off, "Better get going I guess." He looked over to Prompto again, who gave him a nod, letting him know he would keep an eye on Ignis before he left to go after Gladio.

"After you." The blond directed towards him, waving his hands forward as he did so, even going as far as to bow his head. Still doing what he could to try and lighten the mood to the best of his abilities. "Hey, you two mind, maybe perhaps, slowing down a bit." He called up ahead upon realizing they were quite a bit further away than he thought them to be. Without replying, the both of them slowed down considerably, Gladio stopping completely after a look over the shoulder. "Thanks." He added on with a quick wave of his hand.

After their new pace had been set, one that was suitable for all of them that is, their trip back was going mostly smoothly. A stumble here and a slip there, but better than the original trek had been nonetheless. Most of those were on Ignis' part, but there were a few where Prompto couldn't deny his falterings, though his were mainly the bumping into others. Of course, those were brushed off or casually left lingering awkwardly in the air. Though Gladio wouldn't openly admit it now, each time that happened only felt like a stab to him.

Now that they actually kind of had an inkling of an idea of where they were going, they were able to return back to the control panel in less than an hour, the entire journey back being a quiet and uneventful one. "Alright, so where exactly is this thing?" Noctis asked the moment the thing was within his sight.

Prompto glanced around, "Somewhere around here, or it should be anyway." He took a deep breath as he searched from his spot, "Seems like way more trouble than it's worth." He said more to himself, but got a response regardless.

"It will be worth it for that royal arm." Ignis promptly reminded him.

"Uh, yeah yeah, I know that." He quickly assured, now moving to actually walking around in order to further his search. "Hmmmm." He hummed to himself, "Think that could be it?" He asked, pointing upward, up some more stairs.

"Maybe." Noctis spoke up, following the direction. "I'll go check it out." He waded through the water at a careful speed, not wanting to trip over some unseen object that may be lurking beneath the surface.

"We haven't got all day, ya'know." Gladio roughly reminded, folding his arms and leaning his weight onto one leg.

"I know that." Noctis bit back, deciding to move at least a little faster, to get the other to shut it if nothing else. He took the few first steps up, cringing at the questionable creak they emitted with each footfall. "Well, this seems safe." He muttered under his breath, but pressed forward despite the structure's integrity. With another step, there was a few unwarranted cracks before the explosive sound of corroded metal snapping. His instincts kicked in and he summoned his blade and swiftly tossed it the rest of the way up, zipping to the top in a flash of blue. Landing, he gazed back around in time to see part of the stairs crumbling away, and sighed in relief.

"Everything alright up there?" Prompto yelled up, grabbing Ignis by the arm and forcing the both of them to take a few steps back as a few pieces splashed in the water just in front of them.

"Yeah, everything's good." The prince replied, turning back to the generator. "Alright, let's give this a go."

From the bottom, the other three waited, staring up expectantly. They couldn't see exactly what was going on, but they all knew something worked at least with the buzz of working mechanics and the return of that beautiful black smoke as things surged back to life. "Ah yeah!" Prompto cheered, clapping his hands together once, "Things are finally looking up."

"Let's just get this thing moved before it dies out." And with that Gladio instantly killed the mood. The blond, lowered his hands and pursed his lips as he heard a splash next to him when Noctis warped back down.

"Alright, you're the one that's good with this stuff. Think you got it from here?"

"Shouldn't be too much of a problem." He gave a timid and swift thumbs up as he cautiously made his way by. "Alright." He said as he reached the controls and ran a scan over them, eyeing each one, trying to figure out just what everything did. With a few presses and clicks of things that looked promising, they were rewarded with the sounds of turning and whirling gears accompanied by the subtle earth shakes that indicated something large moving. "I-I think I got it." He called back, taking the few steps down two at a time, almost instantly coming to a sudden halt as he ran into something else. He didn't need to turn his head to tell it was Gladio. "S-sorry." He quickly apologized, making to step around, but was stopped again. This time it was from the other manually stopping him as he grabbed onto his shoulder.

"Wait." Gladio started, reaching into his pocket for something. "You should really just use this already."

Prompto looked down to see a potion in his hand, "I told you guys earlier, it's fine, It's not nec-"

"Prompto." Gladio roughly interrupted, "You're running into everything, and it's already proven to cause a hindrance when in battle, so just take it."

He bit his lip for a few seconds, debating whether he should use it or not. "What if we need it for something else later. I know we have more, but what if someone gets really hurt, and needs more than one, ya know? If I take that one, then there won't be enough."

"Then we'll figure it out, so take the damn thing." Gladio's words came out more demanding now.

"Why are you set on me taking it? Like I said, it could be put to better use lat-"

"Because I'm sick of looking at it!" He snapped back, looking right at the injury marring the left side of his face. The air immediately thickened and he didn't miss the slight drop in the others expression. He kept his hand holding the potion outstretched and felt fingers brush over his hand as Prompto tentatively took it from him.

"Alright." He spoke quietly, gripping the container in his hand. Looking down at it, he allowed his grasp to tighten until there was a shattering sound and he was enveloped in blue. Once the hue faded out of existence, he looked back up to meet Gladio's eyes, only a slight purple tint remained behind. "There, happy?" He broke the contact and purposefully brushed by him this time as he walked ahead.

"Prompto, wait." Gladio tried to get his attention back, but gave up as the other only got further away.

"Such a way with words." Noctis scoffed, going after the blond, "Let's get this over with." He stopped for only a moment, "I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately." With a sigh of his own, Ignis went after them now, leaving Gladio there without a word.


	7. In the Way

**So, I lied, there will be one more chapter. o3o**

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He heard Gladio call after him, but he honestly didn't care. He let a hand drift upwards and lightly skim over his face; it was still a little sore to the touch, but nowhere near like it had been. At least his vision was relatively normal with that eye now. As he pulled his hand away he glanced back, not holding that position for long as he caught sight of Gladio. He almost cursed himself for reacting like he did. He wasn't sure why he was even upset about it, he knew he was only lashing out for his own well-being, but somehow he just didn't feel that way at first. He didn't realize he had slowed down until a pat on his back jolted him back to reality.

"Noct." Prompto exclaimed sharply, "Yo-you can't sneak up on people like that." He spoke once his heart slowed back down to a reasonable pace. "Nearly gave me a heart attack dude."

"Oh, uh sorry I guess." Noctis tripped over his own words, honestly not expecting to have the other respond in such a manner.

"You didn't leave Ignis alone did you?" The blond replied upon noticing Noctis was the only one that had caught up to him."

Now it was the prince's turn to gaze back, "He'll be fine, it's a straight shot here, and the ground isn't too unpredictable. Besides, Gladio is behind him," He looked past Ignis to see the man himself a few yards back "kind of anyway." He added, realizing the distance between the two of them.

He still didn't look too satisfied about it, but he figured he had a point. There was no immediate danger for him to worry about, and he was starting to get used to the terrain at least. He nodded, "Yeah, I guess you're right." He folded his hands behind his head and started forward once again, forcing Noctis to move with him. "Guess Gladio is on both of our 'shit lists' now." He joked, laughing lightly. Then his face took on a more serious expression and he took a deep breath, "Guess I did kind of overreact back there, huh?"

Noctis thought on it for a moment, "Maybe." He answered plainly, "But, I think he did have it coming."

"Perhaps. Still, he waaaas just trying to help...I think."

"Not that I agree with his methods, but your face is easier to look at now." He gave a knowing sideways smile. "And we all know you wouldn't have used it if we just asked, considering you had already turned it down once."

Prompto looked down at that statement, "Yeah, well, I want you to tell me you wouldn't do the same with a straight face." He waited, getting no reply, "That's what I thought." He brought his hands back to his sides now, "Not that I don't appreciate it or anything, because I do, really. I just don't know."

"I'm sure it'll work itself out." Noctis gave his simple and straight-forwards reply.

"Ya'know, Ignis has been saying the same thing, and I'm beginning to doubt that's how it actually works." He sighed deeply once again, "It'll have to be dealt with sooner or later though I suppose. Later might be better though." He took a look around, deciding that this definitely was not the place to deal with such trifles.

Noctis came to a stop next to him, prompting him to do the same, "Hate to say it, but maybe we should let the others catch up." He folded his arms over his chest and leaned onto one leg.

Prompto nodded, and seeing the Ignis was only about half way down the slope, he left Noctis behind to go lend a hand. He was beginning to wonder if he was helping unnecessarily at this point. For the most part, at least the other didn't seem to mind the extra assistance, aside from the occasional sigh and scowl that is. Maybe he did actually mind a lot more, but if he did he sure wasn't protesting against it vocally. "Hey, not too much further." He spoke as he reached him and placed a light hand on his back. He was aware of Gladio's footsteps in the back of his mind. "Careful, there's a bit of janky ground just ahead."

"You have my appreciation." Ignis gave a single nod. With their steady pace they reached the bottom in a decent amount of time; much faster than if Ignis had continued to walk alone. "Do you see the tomb anywhere?" He asked after a moment, "With as long as we've been here, we should at least be close by now."

"Ummm, I'm not sure." Prompto thought about it as he gazed around, skimming over all the foliage covered terrain, "Everything kiiiind of looks the same."

"If it's not down here, then I'll be extremely annoyed." Noctis huffed out. "Don't exactly see many other places it could be." He squinted his eyes, trying to see through the heavy fog, barely making out the surface of rock and water through its haze.

"Perhaps there is more than meets the eye." He responded with a subtle smirk. Noctis rolled his own eyes and let them drift back over the surface of the water.

"I sure hope that's the case anyway." He cut them back over as the larger man finally made it to them, still appearing to be thinking to himself and barely paying attention to what was in front of him. "Took you long enough." He now spoke with a bit of bite behind his words, still allowing his spite to get the better of him.

Gladio only huffed out a puff of air and moved by them, already sloshing through the knee deep water as the others looked towards his back as it got further away. Prompto and Noctis exchanged a look that said, 'May as well deal with this for a bit longer.' and with a pat on Ignis' shoulder from Noctis, they trailed behind, keeping their speed low and easy-going. The distance between them and Gladio quickly closed, and they realized it was due to him no longer moving. "What's up?" Prompto asked when they were only a few feet away.

Gladio lifted a finger and pointed, "You see that?" He turned his head, letting his gaze falter slightly since there was still a visible mark on the others face. At least it really did look like just a bruise now.

"Eggs?" Prompto asked, ignoring the other's reaction and taking a few steps towards it to get a better look. As he got closer, he could make out the shiny appearance of the slime that coated them, "Ugh, they look disgusting." He moved until he was right in front of them, the patterned splashes sounded behind him, signaling the others were right there with him.

"What the." Noctis summoned his sword, and gently pushed the gunslinger aside, and with a careful hand, lightly prodded the purplish oval, cringing as it sank in with a squish. With a look of pure revulsion, he extracted the blade, feeling a bit sick at the way the mucus strung along. He flung it once, loathing how some still clung on. "This is so gross." He resorted to wiping the edge off on a nearby fuzz covered rock, managing to get the majority of it off.

Prompto continued to stare at the egg as ooze slowly seeped out of the fresh opening, "Uh, guys?" He just now realized, "What do you suppose laid these things?" He got over his initial shock of seeing such massive eggs, and the revelation had struck him full force. His eyes grew wide when what seemed like a small tremor disturbed the water around them, sending ripples across in all directions. At first it seemed like nothing more than just that, a subtle shake, but that quickly escalated, and it became clear it was something much more than that.

At the sound of something erupting through the veil of water, they were urged to face the reason for the disturbance. Prompto laughed nervously at the sight over it as the size of it easily dwarfed them. "Noct, I think you pissed it off."

"Dammit, if it's not one thing, it's another." He ground out, forgetting about the grime plaguing his sword for the time being. "Iggy, maybe you should, um, stay back for this one."

"Afraid I'll get in the way?" He replied, not harshly, but rather calmly instead.

Noctis chewed the inside of his cheek, "Not exactly what I meant."

"Whatever you're gonna do, make it fast." Gladio growled out, now summoning his own greatsword. Prompto swiftly doing the same with his pistol, already aiming it towards where he assumed its brain to be, if it even had one.

"Very well." Ignis decided, "I'll keep my distance for now." He didn't sound too thrilled about the suggestion, but he did find logic in the request. "Although, I cannot guarantee I will remain on the outskirts if things go awry."

"I won't try to stop you."

"Ok, good, we got everything settled, can we please take care of this thing now." Prompto gladly reminded them of the danger at hand, voice nearly going up an octave as he stepped out of the way of a flailing appendage. Out of instinct, he switched targets, immediately firing, satisfied that he hit his mark this time. It withdrew with the pain, screeching at the offending sensation.

Noctis took a quick fleeting look back at Ignis as he ran forward, making sure he stayed true to his word and stayed back. He faced forward just in time to duck under another swing, narrowly avoiding it, "Prompto, you stay back with Ignis and attack from there." With his back turned, he missed the slight scowl the adviser made at that statement.

Prompto spared him a thumbs up before rushing over to stand next to the older man, "Sorry, I know this isn't what you're used to, but you know how it is." He said over his shoulder, and quickly faced the beast again to fire off a few more shots, each one hitting somewhere on its body. I was hard to tell where through all the tangles of vines as it thrashed around. All he knew is that he was hitting it, and not his comrades, which was a plus.

"Yes, I know." Ignis said quietly, pushing up his glasses more so out of habit now.

He shot off another two more times, "Man, how much can this thing take?" He froze at the sound of cracking accompanied by a touch of sloshing. Slowly turning his head, he gazed towards the eggs now, "You have to be kidding me. Now of all times?" He turned his gun on the one Noctis had previously stabbed, piercing right through it as smaller tentacles were beginning to break through.

"What's going on?" Ignis asked, slightly frustrated at the lack of information.

"Uhhh." The blond started, never ceasing his fire, trying to kill the others before they had a chance to start freeing themselves. "We have a few mini problems to deal with now." Without putting any thought into it, he placed himself between Ignis and the now hatching eggs. To his dismay, even the small ones took quite a bit of effort to kill, and it seemed they were now hatching faster then he could eliminate them.

Hearing the borderline panicked tone, the other summoned only one of his daggers should he need it, preparing himself to strike at a moment's notice. "How many are there?"

"I dunno." Prompto blurted out, still shooting, "Too many, maybe six or more. Math was never my forte."

"You at least learned how to count, didn't you?" Ignis asked rhetorically. "Is it more than the two of us can handle?"

"No, or rather I don't think so." He looked over his shoulder to see how the others were faring after he finished off a second one. "Um, Iggy?" After the resounding 'Hmm' he continued, "I think they might be having more trouble than us right now."

"What do you mean by that?"

Prompto sucked in a sharp breath of air, "I don't think they're cutting the big guy down anytime soon, he or she?" He thought about what it was for a second, shaking his head, deeming the gender of the thing unimportant, "It's still going strong." He finally answered. Turning back he let out a quick "Son of a bitch." Seeing that about three more had already hatched in the amount of time it took him to check on the others. "I think it's high time we get out of here." He didn't wait for the other to answer as he grabbed hold of his wrist and began tugging him along, ignoring the frequent stumbles at being forced to go at a less than comfortable pace.

"Prompto, what is going on?" Ignis demanded this time, barely able to stay on his feet.

"Couldn't stay there." He answered quickly, "Those mini problems just became a much larger problem." He finally slowed down once they were no longer at risk of being cornered, and he once again started firing towards the incoming creatures.

Ignis wrinkled his nose as a putrid aroma assaulted his nostrils. "Do you smell that?"

"Wasn't me."

He continued on as if that remark was never made, "Noct! Gladio!" He called out, hoping he got their attention. "Get away from that thing, now!" They gave him a confused momentary stare, but the groaning of the beast told them they should probably listen. Just as they made it over, breath, thick with rancid stench, flowed freely from its maw, clouding the area around it in a greenish hue. Even from their distance, they could smell it.

With a couple more sniffs, he was aware of the slight gaseous odor tinting the air. "Noct." He spoke quickly with a hand outstretched, "Do you happen to have any vials of fire on you?" Noctis shot him a questioning look, then quickly remembered he couldn't see it, so with a quick confirmation, he dug into his pocket and retrieved his only remaining one. Ignis gripped it firmly in one hand, tilting his head slightly trying to pinpoint exactly where the thing was to make sure he didn't get this too far off. He only had one chance after all.

With a short and silent prayer to himself, he thrust the orb forward, putting all of his strength into it and just hoped it would reach. The others stayed out of the way and let him do whatever it was he was doing, and watched as the fire vial was chucked forward. As it struck, flames broke free from their confinement, releasing itself in destructive tendrils as the beast screamed in agony, appendages flailing in a sad attempt at relief. After a few more feeble thrashes and cries, it eventually settled down, almost as though it were deflating.

"That was awesome!" Prompto broke the silence that fell, but quickly glanced around, looking to see if there were any straggling survivors scurrying around. "I think you actually got them all." He added, catching sight of a few crisp ones that were a bit too close to the larger one.

"H-how did you know that would work?" Noctis asked, still in shock.

"Just a hunch." Ignis answered simply. "That thing's breath reeked of flammable gases, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try." He gave Noctis a sideways smirk. "Now we can properly look for that tomb, and hope we don't have anymore obstacles getting in our way."


	8. Mediated

**Here it is the last chapter finally. C: Hopefully you all enjoy this and think it wraps up rather nicely, I tried anyway. After this, I'll be getting back to the more intense stuff. And the next chapter one will be another deep one, don't wanna give away too much about it though.**

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Noctis trailed back over to where the eggs were, the majority of them now mere husks, no longer containing the miniature menaces, though there were still those few that still seemed to be intact. Not wanting to risk them hatching on the off chance they weren't just duds, he lit them alight, standing back as they sizzled out of existence. Through the rising steam and melting mucus, a few glimpses of light grey stone caught his eye as the flames danced off the surface of it. "Well, I'll be damned." He practically breathed out, upping the intensity of his flames, burning away the organic barrier in a matter of seconds.

"Is that what I think it is?" Prompto couldn't hide his joy as the last of the vines crisped and fell away, revealing part of the tomb's door.

"I believe it is." The prince confirmed, placing a hand on the side of the building, and allowing it to slide over the marble surface. He's never seen anything so beautiful before. "This is it then, I guess." He glanced back at the others, "You guys ready to get this over with?"

"More than ready." Gladio huffed out, stepping forward to lean against the outside. "I'll wait out here, and make it quick. This already took far longer than it should have."

Noctis cut his eyes over, trying to bite his tongue on this one, but decided to let a little bit of something slip out anyway, craving at least a sliver of satisfaction from it. "Might have been faster if we didn't have a blind man and a half for most of the time." Ok, so that probably wasn't the best thing to say, and he regretted saying it the moment it passed through his lips. An awkward silence fell over them, not even Prompto made a reply to that. Gritting his teeth, he pushed the doors open, seeking out refuge within the tomb, fleeing the undesired situation.

Prompto stared down at his feet while Noctis stepped inside, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he suddenly felt tremendously uncomfortable. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gladio doing the same, only with his arms crossed. Every now and again he would glance over at the blond. Ignis stood in the middle, for once his vision impairment was a blessing in his opinion. Still, he cleared his throat, hoping that would at least trigger some sort of words being exchanged between the two of them.

The larger of the three finally looked over to Ignis first, then shifted that scrutiny over to Prompto and sighed dramatically. "Alright." He forced out, words sounding strained. "You know what I said earlier, it...it came out wrong."

"I know." The other quickly responded, eyes now trailing up to meet the other's, "It's alright. I know what you were trying to do, and I appreciate it." He gave a short nod at the end, trying to let the other know that was good enough.

Gladio only released another weighted breath, "No, it's really not 'alright'. Man, what is with you and everything being 'fine' all the time, it drives me crazy."

"I'm...sorry?"

"And that." He gestured towards the gunslinger with one hand, "Always with the apologizing, I just don't get you." He ran one hand through his hair, pushing himself away from his support and turned to face the other direction, "I swear you're ass backwards." He laughed to himself. "I should be the one apologizing dammit!" He nearly yelled as he turned back to face him and took a few steps towards him. "Why aren't you pissed about this? You have every right to be."

Prompto swallowed hard, eye contact faltering for a fraction of a moment, "It was an accident, dude. Can't blame someone for something like that when they didn't mean to."

"That's not how this works." He had his tone lowered a bit now, "It doesn't matter that is wasn't on purpose, is still shouldn't have happened." Things quieted for a few moments, both of them allowing the conversation to settle a bit before continuing with it. "My point is, I'm sorry."

The blond nodded a couple more times, eyes flickering from the water to the other. "Yeah, thanks." He offered a slight smile.

"You alright though?" Gladio's gaze fell on the still present bruise, the mark that still lingered behind.

"Mostly." His hand naturally reached up against his will, brushing over it. "You kinda broke my face, so it's still a bit on the sore side, but hey, I can see at least." His eyes widened and he immediately looked over to Ignis, "Uh, I mean, just that, uh you know."

Ignis lifted a hand to cut him off. "It's quite alright." He assured, "No need to change your speech for my sake."

Prompto let out something between a relieved sigh and a nervous laugh. "Right, of course." Changing his attention back to the other, "Really though, it'll be fine now. Thanks to that potion that is, otherwise it would still look pretty messed up...and feel really messed up."

"Sure you don't need another?" He asked skeptically, the purple tones still looking pretty dark to him.

"I'm sure." Prompto pushed, "I'm pretty pale, so it probably just looks worse than it is." He shrugged, seeming to be telling the truth at least. "But it's good now." Gladio noticed the way his eyes ventured by to something behind him as he now seemed more distant in the conversation. Out of curiosity, he turned to see what was so interesting, finding the prince himself watching on as he leaned against a part of the door.

"Don't let me soil the mood." He somewhat joked, though they could hear the bite behind it.

"Oh, don't worry your highness, you won't." Gladio was right back to his previous mood, letting his calm and collected self be chased away by his bitterness. And in an instant the old tension and callousness was back walking among them. "Let's go."

He turned to start making his way back, but Ignis' voice pulled him back, stopping him in his tracks, "I've had about enough of this pointless childish behavior." The authority powered words brought everyone's focus onto him. "I refuse to tolerate you two's nonsense for the duration of another day, so I suggest working it out now."

Both of their reactions were nearly identical, folding their arms and taking on a stubborn stance, neither wanting to speak first. "Don't everyone speak at once." Prompto joked, instantly falling silent once more when no one seemed amused.

"I guess I'll be the bigger person." Gladio started, not holding back with the condescending tone, "When are you going to get it together and quit thinking this is a huge joke?"

"I never thought any of this was a damn joke!" He retorted without hesitation, "Do you honestly think I like people dying and sacrificing themselves in my name? You think I'm ok with all that?!"

"Then why don't you start acting like it?!" Gladio took an intimidating step forward to get his point across, "This isn't some game, you either need to get it together and start acting like the king you're supposed to be, or sulk around until everyone pays the price for it! We can't decide for you though."

"I know that, dammit!" The prince quickly and harshly defended himself. "Tell me what it is that you want from me. I'm sorry I can't be your ideal king, but all this was kinda thrust upon me in case you forgot!" Prompto sheepishly took a few steps away as the argument picked up, biting his lip to prevent himself from putting in his two cents. "I'm trying my best here, alright?"

"Well try harder." Gladio huffed out in a flustered way. "Things may have taken a turn for the worse, but it's only more the reason to get your head in the game." He tried to steady his voice a little, fully aware of how loud he was beginning to get now, "I can't force you to get everything together, that's something you'll have to do for yourself."

Noctis nodded in understanding, the now somewhat calm demeanor of the other overflowing onto him, "And I will, but I can't just switch over into the perfect king just like that."

Prompto sighed from his spot, feeling the tension de-escalate after what seemed like a lifetime to him. They were talking, which was a start. They may not have been on completely level ground yet, but it was a start. They seemed to be on the same page at the very least.

"Noctis is right, Gladio." Ignis intervened, "He will eventually mold into what he needs to be, but it will take some time. I understand that's not something we currently have many reserves of, but we have enough." He lifted his head to face Gladio's general direction, "Everything takes some time to get used to."

Gladio met his gaze, looking directly to the scars marring the mans face, trailing them until he met sunglasses which hid unseeing eyes. "Yeah." He surrendered with that single word, "I think we should head back now, before it gets too late. I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to get back to the train before we get left behind."

"I second that." The blond raised his hand partially into the air, now turning to Ignis, "You good to go?" With a nod, Ignis began heading in the direction he thought they had come from. With a quick helpful turn-around, Prompto guided him to face the right way, "Uh, you almost had it."

"Right." The adviser waved a hand, "Thanks." He gave a courteous nod in his direction, pulling away, trying to indicate to the other that he would be fine walking on his own from this point on. Knowingly, Prompto gave the man his distance, fully aware that he was still in need of some independence.

"I know you're tired of hearing this, but please just be careful."

"You're right, I am." Ignis replied, words carrying light humor. "Need I remind you which one of us slipped more than once?"

"Wait." Prompto jogged up next to the other, "Pretty sure you did too."

"I have an excuse to." Prompto froze, raising one finger in the air to counter that, but nothing came to mind. "Shut up." He said instead, continuing to walk. He glanced over his shoulder at the other two. They were falling behind a small amount, but it appeared as though they were talking still, quietly to one another.

"I guess you were right after all." He spoke silently, not meaning to say it aloud.

"About what?" Ignis asked, despite already knowing what the response would be.

"About them eventually working it out." He threw a thumb back at the others out of habit, "I guess all they needed was a little bit of a push to get the ball rolling on that though." He let out another breath. "I can't say anything though." He threw his head back, "I guess we all need a little help when it comes to people skills."

Ignis hummed in agreement, "It would appear so." His face quickly dropped into a more serious one, "Though, I hate to sour the mood, but I fear things will only descend further into chaos from here. All may seem well for the time being, so I suggest we enjoy this moment of peace while we can."

The blond couldn't help but feel a cool and eerie sensation wash over him. "Yeah, I've noticed." He said softly, "S'pose things are going to be quite different from now on." He gazed back at the others again, his previous relief now replaced with unexplainable unease. Things were definitely changing, and whether it was for the better or worse, he wasn't quite sure, but things were in fact morphing around them and there was nothing that could be done about it.


End file.
